Chess: The Crab Opening

This may be the worst chess opening known to man! So why does every kid play it when they first start out? It's true! It seems to be the instinctual first move. My theory is that it has something to do with the beginning and the ending, since a4 is the beginning pawn, and h4 is the end pawn. Or perhaps reading, being left to right, they think they should start out left to right. Who knows, but all kids do it. You can almost predict it. So why is it so bad? Let's take a look at it.

But before we get started, let's remember one thing. Every chess opening has strengths and weaknesses. Just playing a bad opening does not mean you will lose, and just playing a good opening does not mean you will win. You have to understand chess theory and strategy to win games...or have an opponent who is worse than you!

As you can see from the above diagram, the moves h4 and a4 fail to control the center. Why is controlling the center so important? Think of tennis. Every time the ball is hit back to you, where do you want to be that is closest simultaneously to all corners of the court? That's the center. It's the same with chess.

Every minor piece is more valuable the closer it gets to the center. In the center the knight controls eight squares, in the corner, two. Pawns are a classical way to control the center. Modern and hyper-modern chess openings attempt to control the center with fianchettoed bishops (bishops in the corner with a little nook created by pawn to g3 or b3). The Crab qualifies as neither.

In the Crab, since h4 is already played, access to the g5 square by a pawn has been denied. Therefore, if the pawn on e5 can be dislodged, a wonderful knight outpost can be obtained on f4 (as shown in the diagram above). Once White's knight gets to f4, it can become an annoying pest. It is not only in the center; it is one rank closer to the enemy side of the board.

Those pawns on a4 and h4 can also become quite difficult to deal with. Think of them as pinchers on the crab's claws. Both rook files are partially opening up, thus it feels a bit unsafe for Black to castle. He is not sure what to do. If Black plays correctly he will strategically destroy the Crab. But if he gets confused, he will be pinched. Correct play means continuing to follow sound chess principles, in spite of the bizarre actions of your opponent.